System and approach for remote room controller and device diagnostics and health monitoring

ABSTRACT

The disclosure reveals a system and approach for remote health monitoring and diagnostics of room controllers, networks and devices. A master room controller may be used to open a system health page or a diagnostic page for other controllers. A system health page may provide an overview of virtually all of the other room controllers. A tool of the present system may be used to trouble shoot issues remotely at another room controller in lieu of doing a visit to the respective room controller. A user may navigate from the system health page to virtually any place on the room controller to diagnose issues. The navigation may be done by hyper linking from the system health page. The healthy controllers may be hidden from the page so that the unhealthy systems can be viewed in one shot.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure pertains to controllers, and particularly tomonitoring of controllers.

SUMMARY

The disclosure reveals a system and approach for remote healthmonitoring and diagnostics of room controllers, networks and devices. Amaster room controller may be used to open a system health page or adiagnostic page for other controllers. A system health page may providean overview of virtually all of the other room controllers. A tool ofthe present system may be used to trouble shoot issues remotely atanother room controller in lieu of doing a visit to the respective roomcontroller. A user may navigate from the system health page to virtuallyany place on the room controller to diagnose issues. The navigation maybe done by hyper linking from the system health page. The healthycontrollers may be hidden from the page so that the unhealthy systemscan be viewed in one shot.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an illustrative example of a system for remoteroom controller and device health monitoring;

FIG. 2 is a diagram of an approach for obtaining health and diagnosticsof room controllers, networks and devices;

FIG. 3 is a diagram of a system health summary screen;

FIG. 4 is a diagram of a summary of conditions for an applicationcontrol engine health, network status and device status;

FIG. 5 is diagram of a screen shot certain properties of an applicationcontrol engine;

FIG. 5a is a diagram of thresholds related to the application controlengine;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a diagnostics page; and

FIG. 7 is a diagram of device tab that may display virtually all devicesconnected to a network and with error and alarm status.

DESCRIPTION

The present system and approach may incorporate one or more processors,computers, controllers, user interfaces, wireless and/or wireconnections, and/or the like, in an implementation described and/orshown herein.

This description may provide one or more illustrative and specificexamples or ways of implementing the present system and approach. Theremay be numerous other examples or ways of implementing the system andapproach.

A Tridium™ Niagara™ AX Framework may be a base software application todevelop a remote room controller diagnostics page and a tool fortroubleshooting the devices. Further, the present system and approachmay have a tool that may be used to troubleshoot issues remotely andthus a technician may be required to visit a customer site totroubleshoot any issues of a device.

FIG. 1 is a diagram 71 of an example layout of a system for remotecontroller and device health monitoring. A master room controller 72 maybe connected to one or more remote room controllers 73, 74 and 75. Aconnection between controller 72 and controllers 73-75 may be via a web76, a direct wire connection 77 or a wireless connection. Master roomcontroller 72 may have a user interface 78 that is integral tocontroller 72 or apart from controller 72. User interface 78 may have adisplay 79 and keyboard 81 and so forth. Display 79 could be a touchscreen for selection, response and input. Several screens of pages maybe shown on display 79. The screens may incorporate an at-a-glance page82, a system health page 83, a diagnostics page 84, a troubleshootingpage 85, and other pages 86, as desired.

A system health summary screen 31 revealed in a diagram of FIG. 3 may bea web page to provide an “at-a-glance” overview of system-wide healthstatus. The system health summary screen 31 may indicate the health ofeach room controller. Examples of controllers noted may be MIT RMC Bldg1 and MIT RMC Bldg 2. MIT RMC Bldg 1 may be noted in FIGS. 3 and 5-7.

The present disclosure, such as a system health summary screen toindicate the health of each room controller, may help for instance, aPhoenix Controls™ technician to remotely check, for example, thefollowing items: 1) a status of JACE™ (Java application control engine);2) a status of Lon Networks in the JACE; 3) a status of devices in theone or more Lon™ networks; 4) a hyperlink of the JACE to allow a user tonavigate to a detailed diagnostics screen of the JACE; and 5) mode errorand alarm conditions.

A Phoenix™ technician may launch a system health page directly from aPhoenix workbench room controller. This controller may be a master roomcontroller. A master room controller may be a master of all other roomcontrollers, which has a direct connection to other room controllers.Each of the room controllers may have a unique IP address assigned to itwhich can let a user open a system health page or a diagnostics page.

The system health page may provide an overview of virtually all roomcontrollers for that Phoenix job as shown in a screen shot in a diagram31 of FIG. 3. For an offline job, each room controller may be running ina simulated unique port. If the room controller has a dual LAN card,both of the card details may be displayed.

The categories 32 of information in screen 31 may be a room controller,location, primary LAN with IP address and DHCP (dynamic hostconfiguration protocol), a secondary LAN with IP address and DHCP, JACEhealth, LON status with LON 1 and LON 2, and device status. Exampleindicators 33 may be either green (Gn), red (R) or gray (Gy).

FIG. 2 is a diagram of an example 10 of the present approach. A start atsymbol 11 may proceed to one of several approaches which in the presentcase may be to launch a system health page on an RMC from a workbench atsymbol 12, or to enter the via the system health URL in a web browser atsymbol 13. From either symbol 12 or 13, a login page at symbol 14 mayappear for entry of a user name and password. Then, one may press anenter button or click on a login button at symbol 15. A result may beindicated at symbol 16, which may be login failed or of login success. Alogin failed may have the user return to the login page at symbol 14 orquit the attempt.

With login success to symbol 17, there may be a system health pagecontaining room controllers with overall health indicators like RMC/RMIhealth, LON health and device health and containing a link to adiagnostic page for each RMC in the table. Then the link for diagnosticsmay be clicked.

A logic page may appear at symbol 18 and a user name and password can beentered according to symbol 19. There may be a login failed or a loginsuccess. A login failed may have the user return to the logic page atsymbol 18 or quit the attempt.

With login success, one may go to symbol 20. There may be a diagnosticspage for selected RMC with detailed RMC/RMI health, low health anddevice health as represented by symbols 21, 22 and 23, respectively.Symbol 21 may indicate a display detailed RMC/RMI health containing CPUusage, memory usage, heap usage, and resource details. Symbol 22 mayindicate a display of details about the LON network. Symbol 23 mayindicate a display of devices connected to LON networks with a healthindication and additional details of a selected device with alarm anderror details. Upon review of one or more of the instances ofinformation as revealed in the symbols, one may end the inquiry atsymbol 24.

FIG. 4 is a diagram of a summary 35 of conditions. As to JACE health 37,a green indication may show a healthy status. A red indication may showthat something is wrong or that one or more of the conditions exceeded athreshold. Chart 36 at the top of the diagram of FIG. 4 is shown in adiagram of FIG. 5a . A gray indication may show that a connection hasnot been established.

As to LON status 38, a green indication may indicate a LON status to behealthy. A red indication may indicate something to be wrong. Acondition may be revealed with a status mask of “FAULT|DOWN|STALE|NULL”.If any of the bits in the mask is set in any of the Lon networks, thenit may be marked as red. Gray may indicate a connection not to beestablished.

As to device status 39, green indication may reveal a status to behealthy. Red may indicate something to be wrong. A condition may berevealed with a status mask of “FAULT|DOWN|STALE|NULL”. If any of thebits in the mask is set in any of the LON devices, then it may be markedas red. A gray indication may indicate a connection not established.

A user may navigate from the system health to any component on the roomcontroller to diagnose the issues. This may be done by hyper linkingfrom the system health page. Also, it may provide the flexibility tohide healthy systems (i.e., no errors or alarms in JACE health, LONstatus, and device status), so that one can view unhealthy systems in ashot. A polling interval may be set which can poll based on the interval(e.g., 5 minutes) set in a Phoenix workbench.

A screen shot in a diagram 41 of FIG. 5 may show that the memory usage(marked in red −2999.7) of indicator 42 may have exceeded a thresholddefined, i.e., 80 percent in the present example, according to indicator43 in a diagram 36 of FIG. 5a . The JACE health may display virtuallyall of the parameters of the room controller like CPU usage, alarmresources, component count, engine queue actions, engine life time,queue timers, heap usage, some of which are noted by indications 44, 45,46, 47 and 48, respectively, and so forth. Alarms may be generatedbecause of low available files, low disk space, low heap, low memory,and RAM also shown on a dashboard.

FIG. 6 is a diagram 51 showing a diagnostics page. JACE health tab 52may show various parameters related to health of the component. A LON(Lon) health tab 53 may display virtually all the Lon related parameterssuch as health, alarm, fail time, status, and so forth. A device tab,for an instance of a hood, may display virtually all of the Lon devicesconnected to the Lon network and its error and alarm status as shown ina diagram 61 of FIG. 7. An error value may be read from“nvoPhxStatus/nvoAppStatus” of a Niagara property and an alarm may beread from “nvoAlarmStatus”.

To recap, a system for remote room controller monitoring, mayincorporate one or more remote room controllers, a master roomcontroller connected to the one or more remote room controllers, and auser interface connected to the master room controller. The userinterface may be used to obtain an at-a-glance overview of system-wideissues to provide an at-a-glance overview of a system-wide health statusof the one or more remote room controllers. The user interface may beused to obtain a diagnostics page corresponding to a selected remoteroom controller. The user interface may be used to pull up a tool toremotely troubleshoot issues of the selected remote room controller inaccordance with issues indicated in the diagnostics page correspondingto the selected remote room controller.

The user interface may be used to go to a website to get the at-a-glanceoverview of system-wide issues and go to the website to troubleshoot anyissues as indicated in the at-a-glance overview of system-wide issues inthe one or more remote room controllers.

The system health summary screen may reveal the at-a-glance overview ofsystem-wide issues to indicate health of each remote room controller forhelping a technician to remotely check one or more health items of eachremote room controller.

The one or more health items may be selected from a group consisting ofa status of an application control engine, a status of one or morenetworks in the application control engine, a status of devices in theone or more networks, and a hyperlink of the application control engineto allow a user to navigate to a diagnostics screen of the applicationcontrol engine, mode, errors, and/or alarm conditions.

The system may be launched from a health page for a remote roomcontroller from a workbench at the master room controller.

The health page may incorporate one or more remote room controllers withoverall health indicators remote room controller health, network health,and/or device health. The system health page may incorporate a link to adiagnostics page for each remote room controller in a table. Uponclicking the link, the diagnostics page for selected remote roomcontroller health, network health and/or a device health may come up onthe display.

The remote room controller health on the diagnostics page revealed onthe display may incorporate one or more details selected from a groupconsisting of central processing unit usage, memory usage, heap usageand/or resources.

The display may show a list of devices connected to one or more networkshaving a health indicator and details of one or more devices on the listwith alarm and error details.

The display may show details of the one or more networks.

The mode, error and alarm details for a device may be highlighted withan indicator for showing a first, second or third color. The first colormay indicate that something is wrong and one or more of the conditionsexceed a threshold. The second color may indicate that a connection hasnot been established. The third color may indicate a healthy condition.

An approach for health monitoring and diagnosis, may incorporatedeveloping a diagnostics page for one or more remote room controllers,clicking on a link to obtain for one or more remote room controllers thediagnostics page on a display of a processor, developing a tool fortroubleshooting an issue with a device of the one or more remote roomcontrollers, and entering into a system to get to a health pageincorporating one or more remote room controllers having overall healthindicators. The diagnostics page may show the remote room controllershaving overall health indicators.

The overall health indicators may reveal a health of one or more itemsof a group consisting of remote room controllers, networks, and devices.

The diagnostics page may be for a selected remote room controller. Thediagnostics page may incorporate details of remote room controllerhealth, network health and/or device health for a selected remote roomcontroller.

Details of the remote room controller health may incorporate one or moreitems of a group consisting of central computing unit usage, memoryusage, heap usage and/or resource details.

A list of devices may be connected to one or more networks with a healthindicator and additional details of a selected device with mode, alarmand/or error details displayed.

A system having monitoring and diagnostics may incorporate one or moreremote room controllers, a master room controller connected to the oneor more remote room controllers, and a display with an input mechanismconnected to the master room controller.

The master room controller may incorporate an application to develop aremote room controller health page and a diagnostic page, and a tool toremotely troubleshoot issues based on the diagnostics page of a deviceat a remote room controller.

The display may show a screen that provides a system-wide health statusof the one or more remote controllers.

Each of the one or more remote room controllers may incorporate one ormore items selected from a group consisting of an application controlengine, networks connected to and in the application control engine, anda hyperlink of the application control engine to allow a user tonavigate to a detailed diagnostics screen of the application controlengine, modes, errors, and/or alarm conditions.

A user may remotely check one or more items of a group consisting of theapplication control engine, networks in the application control engine,and the hyperlink of the application control engine of the applicationcontrol engine to allow a user to navigate to the detailed diagnosticsscreen of the application control engine, modes, errors, and/or alarmconditions.

Each of the one or more remote room controllers may have a uniqueinternet protocol (IP) address. A user can use an internet protocoladdress at the master room controller to open a system health page or adiagnostics page for a remote room controller having the internetprotocol address. The user may troubleshoot a device having a propertyissue spotted with the diagnostics page. Any publication or patentdocument noted herein is incorporated by reference to the same extent asif each individual publication or patent was specifically andindividually indicated to be incorporated by reference.

In the present specification, some of the matter may be of ahypothetical or prophetic nature although stated in another manner ortense.

Although the present system and/or approach has been described withrespect to at least one illustrative example, many variations andmodifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art uponreading the specification. It is therefore the intention that theappended claims be interpreted as broadly as possible in view of therelated art to include all such variations and modifications.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for remote room controller monitoring,comprising: one or more remote room controllers; a master roomcontroller connected to the one or more remote room controllers; and auser interface connected to the master room controller; and wherein: theuser interface is used to obtain an at-a-glance overview of system-wideissues to provide an at-a-glance overview of a system-wide health statusof the one or more remote room controllers; the user interface is usedto obtain a diagnostics page corresponding to a selected remote roomcontroller; and the user interface is used to pull up a tool to remotelytroubleshoot issues of the selected remote room controller in accordancewith issues indicated in the diagnostics page corresponding to theselected remote room controller.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein theuser interface is used to go to a website to get the at-a-glanceoverview of system-wide issues and go to the website to troubleshoot anyissues as indicated in the at-a-glance overview of system-wide issues inthe one or more remote room controllers.
 3. The system of claim 2,wherein the system health summary screen reveals the at-a-glanceoverview of system-wide issues to indicate health of each remote roomcontroller for helping a technician to remotely check one or more healthitems of each remote room controller.
 4. The system of claim 1, whereinthe one or more health items are selected from a group consisting of astatus of an application control engine, a status of one or morenetworks in the application control engine, a status of devices in theone or more networks, and a hyperlink of the application control engineto allow a user to navigate to a diagnostics screen of the applicationcontrol engine, mode, errors, or alarm conditions.
 5. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the system is launched from a health page for a remoteroom controller from a workbench at the master room controller.
 6. Thesystem of claim 5, wherein the health page comprises one or more remoteroom controllers with overall health indicators remote room controllerhealth, network health, and device health.
 7. The system of claim 6,wherein the system health page incorporates a link to a diagnostics pagefor each remote room controller in a table.
 8. The system of claim 7,wherein upon clicking the link, the diagnostics page for selected remoteroom controller health, network health and/or a device health comes upon the display.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein the remote roomcontroller health on the diagnostics page revealed on the displaycomprises one or more details selected from a group consisting ofcentral processing unit usage, memory usage, heap usage and resources.10. The system of claim 8, wherein the display shows a list of devicesconnected to one or more networks having a health indicator and detailsof one or more devices on the list with alarm and error details.
 11. Thesystem of claim 8, wherein the display shows details of the one or morenetworks.
 12. The system of claim 1, wherein: the mode, error and alarmdetails for a device may highlighted with an indicator for showing afirst, second or third color; the first color indicates that somethingis wrong and one or more of the conditions exceed a threshold; thesecond color indicates that a connection has not been established; andthe third color indicates a healthy condition.
 13. A method for healthmonitoring and diagnosis, comprising: developing a diagnostics page forone or more remote room controllers; clicking on a link to obtain forone or more remote room controllers the diagnostics page on a display ofa processor; developing a tool for troubleshooting an issue with adevice of the one or more remote room controllers; and entering into asystem to get to a health page incorporating one or more remote roomcontrollers having overall health indicators; and wherein thediagnostics page shows the remote room controllers having overall healthindicators.
 14. The method of claim 13, wherein the overall healthindicators reveal a health of one or more items of a group consisting ofremote room controllers, networks, and devices.
 15. The method of claim13, wherein the diagnostics page is for a selected remote roomcontroller.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein the diagnostics pagecomprises details of remote room controller health, network health anddevice health for a selected remote room controller.
 17. The method ofclaim 16, wherein details of the remote room controller healthincorporate one or more items of a group consisting of central computingunit usage, memory usage, heap usage and resource details.
 18. Themethod of claim 16, wherein a list of devices is connected to one ormore networks with a health indicator and additional details of aselected device with mode, alarm and error details displayed.
 19. Asystem having monitoring and diagnostics comprising: one or more remoteroom controllers; a master room controller connected to the one or moreremote room controllers; and a display with an input mechanism connectedto the master room controller; and wherein the master room controllercomprises: an application to develop a remote room controller healthpage and a diagnostic page; and a tool to remotely troubleshoot issuesbased on the diagnostics page of a device at a remote room controller.20. The system of claim 19, wherein the display can show a screen thatprovides a system-wide health status of the one or more remotecontrollers.
 21. The system of claim 20, wherein each of the one or moreremote room controllers comprises one or more items selected from agroup consisting of an application control engine, networks connected toand in the application control engine, and a hyperlink of theapplication control engine to allow a user to navigate to a detaileddiagnostics screen of the application control engine, modes, errors, oralarm conditions.
 22. The system of claim 21, wherein: a user canremotely check one or more items of a group consisting of theapplication control engine, networks in the application control engine,and the hyperlink of the application control engine of the applicationcontrol engine to allow a user to navigate to the detailed diagnosticsscreen of the application control engine, modes, errors, or alarmconditions; each of the one or more remote room controllers has a uniqueinternet protocol address; a user can use an internet protocol addressat the master room controller to open a system health page or adiagnostics page for a remote room controller having the internetprotocol address; and the user can troubleshoot a device having aproperty issue spotted with the diagnostics page.